How to Price Digital Products

Digital products are intangible items that exist in electronic form. Some of the best digital products to sell include things such as music, software, online courses, and ebooks. They are anything that can be downloaded and used digitally. 

Digital products are usually sold online, although they can be sold in brick-and-mortar stores too, and can effectively be created by anyone with an internet connection…so pretty much everyone then! 

Pricing digital products correctly is important for various reasons. How much you decide to sell your digital product for will impact how many people actually decide to buy it. 

If you overprice your item then you risk putting off potential customers who will head to a cheaper competitor instead. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you should opt for a low price point, though.

Depending on what type of digital product you’re selling, a cheap price may be worrying to potential customers. For example, if you’re selling an online course for considerably cheaper than other options available online, customers may worry that your course is so cheap because it isn’t as good as the others. 

You also need to consider how much profit you want to make from selling your digital products. Think about how much it has cost you to make the product. You need to ensure you’re at least breaking even and ideally, making a profit on each sale. 

Pricing your products too low may result in you being unable to cover the overheads and production costs for your digital products. 

When learning how to price digital products there are various things to consider including 

Planning time

First things first, you need to think about how long it took you to plan your digital product. Was it a quick idea that came to you one morning in the shower? Or is it the result of months of research and planning? Pricing is all about value, not just how much value the product brings to customers but also how much you value the time that you have put into its creation. 

Production costs and time

How much did your digital product cost to make? Did you have to pay for a specific software or filming location? All of these fees should be taken into account when pricing your digital products. Remember though that while you may have had to pay out an initial fee to create the product, how many you sell is limitless. Unlike physical products, there’s no limit to how many units of your digital products you can sell…unless, of course, you set the limit yourself! 

You’ll also need to think about how much time it will take to make. If your digital product is the result of years and years of hard work, make sure the cost reflects that! 

Sales and marketing costs

To make money you sometimes have to spend money and that’s never more true than in sales and marketing. In order to drive traffic to your website and encourage sales of your digital products, you’re going to need to implement a sales and marketing strategy. This may include running paid ads or hiring someone to market your product to your target audience. Remember to think about these costs when setting a price. 

Hosting

Digital products all need to be hosted somewhere online, at least to start with. Usually, a customer will download a digital product onto their own computer or device but that means you’ll need an up-to-scratch server that can host your product and support downloads. Another cost to consider! There are various options depending on your budget but for digital products, great hosting is key. 

Any other associated costs

Think carefully about whether or not there are any other costs associated with your digital product. Do you intend to provide regular updates? Are you paying for any specific license fees for your product? You should factor in every single cost when coming up with an accurate price for your digital product. 

Pricing digital products isn’t a one size fits all problem. Instead, there are various ways that you can set your price:

Cost-plus

Cost-plus pricing is a common pricing model where a set percentage is added to the cost of production for every unit. This means that brands determine how much it costs to make one item and then add a set % to this. The resulting figure is how much the item sells for. 

Cost-plus pricing focuses on internal factors and, in theory, ensures that your business is going to turn a profit. However, it doesn’t take into account audience sentiment and spending habits, or the prices of competitor products. 

Audience-centric

Audience-centric pricing is driven by the behaviors and opinions of customers. This pricing model relies on customers to determine the value of the item. This, combined with the spending habits and disposable income of the target audience, then determines how much a product is sold for. 

Competition-centric

Competition-centric pricing relies on you setting a price for your product based on how much your competitors charge for a similar item. 

To use this strategy you’ll need to research the prices of your competition and determine if you want to come in lower or higher. This pricing model has merit since if a competitor is pricing their products at a high rate, this provides you with some justification for setting a high price too. 

Value-based 

Value-based pricing focuses on pricing your products based on how much they’re worth, rather than how much they cost to make. With a value-based pricing model, you don’t need to worry about how much your competitors are charging, because your price point is solely based on the value of your product. Basically, if you think your product is worth it, you can be justifiably priced above the market average. 

Now that you know how to price digital products, all that’s left for you to do is get selling. 

Setting a price for your digital products doesn’t have to be hard, you just need to take the time to determine key things, such as what pricing model you want to opt for, what kind of profit you’re hoping to make, how much your digital product is worth, and how much it cost to create. 

This article has provided you with everything you need to set your price in 2024. Be sure to check out more of our expert guides, including how to sell digital downloads which we think you’ll enjoy too!